Optimism and survival in lung carcinoma patients
[COMPOSITE ENTRY FOR THE CANCER CLAIM AS TRACED, keyed by its first-named item because the source carries several studies. NOT ONE OF THE STUDIES IN THIS ENTRY WAS READ AT SOURCE. The figures circulating from these trials reach us only through press coverage and press releases, and they are WITHHELD here rather than printed] THE POSITIVE-THINKING-AND-CANCER-SURVIVAL CLAIM, TRACED, with every item flagged. Spiegel, D., Bloom, J. R., Kraemer, H. C., & Gottheil, E. (1989), The Lancet: NOT READ. Recorded as the origin of the claim, reported as finding that women with metastatic breast cancer who received a year of supportive-expressive group therapy survived longer than controls. Nothing is attributed to it beyond that, and the fact file records that it was not designed to test survival. Goodwin, P. J., and colleagues (2001), New England Journal of Medicine: NOT READ. A randomised trial of supportive-expressive group therapy in women with metastatic breast cancer, reported as finding benefits in pain and psychological symptoms and none in survival, and described in press coverage of the time as the tenth randomised trial attempting to replicate the 1989 finding, five positive and five negative. ITS SAMPLE SIZES AND SURVIVAL FIGURES REACH US THROUGH PRESS COVERAGE AND ARE WITHHELD. A LATER TRIAL BY THE ORIGINAL INVESTIGATORS' OWN GROUP, reported in press records as published in Cancer in 2007 and as finding no difference in overall survival between treatment groups: NOT READ, CITATION UNVERIFIED, AND ITS FIGURES ARE WITHHELD. Coyne, J. C., Stefanek, M., & Palmer, S. C. (2007). 'Psychotherapy and survival in cancer: The conflict between hope and evidence.' Psychological Bulletin 133(3), 367-394: NOT READ; author order confirmed from a publication record, Coyne first. Reported as reviewing the studies cited as evidence that therapy extends cancer survival and finding no compelling support, and as arguing that the two most-cited trials were not designed to test survival. Coyne's own summary, as quoted in a university press release: 'the hope that we can fight cancer by influencing emotional states appears to have been misplaced.' He is also reported as holding that psychotherapy retains value for other reasons and that patients who want it should have it, AND THAT QUALIFICATION TRAVELS WITH THE QUOTATION. Coyne, J. C., Pajak, T. F., and colleagues (2007). 'Emotional well-being does not predict survival in head and neck cancer patients: A Radiation Therapy Oncology Group study.' Cancer 110(11): NOT READ, AND NO ABSTRACT COULD BE RETRIEVED, because PubMed returned an empty body, PubMed Central returned a reCAPTCHA challenge page and the Europe PMC REST service returned HTTP 429 throughout the pass. The study pooled patients from two Radiation Therapy Oncology Group phase III trials and is reported as finding that emotional status did not predict survival after accounting for factors including sex, tumour site and disease stage. ITS SAMPLE SIZE AND DEATH COUNT REACH US ONLY THROUGH AN AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE AND PRESS COVERAGE AND ARE WITHHELD HERE. Press coverage also records the obvious limit, that it is one cancer site. Schofield, P., and colleagues (2004). 'Optimism and survival in lung carcinoma patients.' Cancer 100(6), 1276-1282. doi:10.1002/cncr.20076: NOT READ; located at university repository records; design reported as patients in a randomised radiotherapy and chemotherapy trial completing two optimism questionnaires; reported in a Medical Journal of Australia review as finding that level of optimism had no impact on survival from locally advanced lung cancer. Schofield's own quoted line, which is the ethical point made by a researcher rather than by us: 'We should question whether it is valuable to encourage optimism if it results in the patient concealing his or her distress in the misguided belief that this will afford survival benefits.' ONE STRUCTURAL FACT: the 2019 cardiovascular meta-analysis excluded studies of patients with cancer by design, so the pooled optimism and mortality estimate everybody quotes contains no cancer patients, and the cancer question has been asked separately with the null answers above. NOTHING IN THIS ENTRY SUPPORTS ANY CLAIM THAT ATTITUDE AFFECTS RECOVERY.
[COMPOSITE ENTRY FOR THE CANCER CLAIM AS TRACED, keyed by its first-named item because the source carries several studies. NOT ONE OF THE STUDIES IN THIS ENTRY WAS READ AT SOURCE. The figures circulating from these trials reach us only through press coverage and press releases, and they are WITHHELD here rather than printed] THE POSITIVE-THINKING-AND-CANCER-SURVIVAL CLAIM, TRACED, with every item flagged. Spiegel, D., Bloom, J. R., Kraemer, H. C., & Gottheil, E. (1989), The Lancet: NOT READ. Recorded as the origin of the claim, reported as finding that women with metastatic breast cancer who received a year of supportive-expressive group therapy survived longer than controls. Nothing is attributed to it beyond that, and the fact file records that it was not designed to test survival. Goodwin, P. J., and colleagues (2001), New England Journal of Medicine: NOT READ. A randomised trial of supportive-expressive group therapy in women with metastatic breast cancer, reported as finding benefits in pain and psychological symptoms and none in survival, and described in press coverage of the time as the tenth randomised trial attempting to replicate the 1989 finding, five positive and five negative. ITS SAMPLE SIZES AND SURVIVAL FIGURES REACH US THROUGH PRESS COVERAGE AND ARE WITHHELD. A LATER TRIAL BY THE ORIGINAL INVESTIGATORS' OWN GROUP, reported in press records as published in Cancer in 2007 and as finding no difference in overall survival between treatment groups: NOT READ, CITATION UNVERIFIED, AND ITS FIGURES ARE WITHHELD. Coyne, J. C., Stefanek, M., & Palmer, S. C. (2007). 'Psychotherapy and survival in cancer: The conflict between hope and evidence.' Psychological Bulletin 133(3), 367-394: NOT READ; author order confirmed from a publication record, Coyne first. Reported as reviewing the studies cited as evidence that therapy extends cancer survival and finding no compelling support, and as arguing that the two most-cited trials were not designed to test survival. Coyne's own summary, as quoted in a university press release: 'the hope that we can fight cancer by influencing emotional states appears to have been misplaced.' He is also reported as holding that psychotherapy retains value for other reasons and that patients who want it should have it, AND THAT QUALIFICATION TRAVELS WITH THE QUOTATION. Coyne, J. C., Pajak, T. F., and colleagues (2007). 'Emotional well-being does not predict survival in head and neck cancer patients: A Radiation Therapy Oncology Group study.' Cancer 110(11): NOT READ, AND NO ABSTRACT COULD BE RETRIEVED, because PubMed returned an empty body, PubMed Central returned a reCAPTCHA challenge page and the Europe PMC REST service returned HTTP 429 throughout the pass. The study pooled patients from two Radiation Therapy Oncology Group phase III trials and is reported as finding that emotional status did not predict survival after accounting for factors including sex, tumour site and disease stage. ITS SAMPLE SIZE AND DEATH COUNT REACH US ONLY THROUGH AN AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE AND PRESS COVERAGE AND ARE WITHHELD HERE. Press coverage also records the obvious limit, that it is one cancer site. Schofield, P., and colleagues (2004). 'Optimism and survival in lung carcinoma patients.' Cancer 100(6), 1276-1282. doi:10.1002/cncr.20076: NOT READ; located at university repository records; design reported as patients in a randomised radiotherapy and chemotherapy trial completing two optimism questionnaires; reported in a Medical Journal of Australia review as finding that level of optimism had no impact on survival from locally advanced lung cancer. Schofield's own quoted line, which is the ethical point made by a researcher rather than by us: 'We should question whether it is valuable to encourage optimism if it results in the patient concealing his or her distress in the misguided belief that this will afford survival benefits.' ONE STRUCTURAL FACT: the 2019 cardiovascular meta-analysis excluded studies of patients with cancer by design, so the pooled optimism and mortality estimate everybody quotes contains no cancer patients, and the cancer question has been asked separately with the null answers above. NOTHING IN THIS ENTRY SUPPORTS ANY CLAIM THAT ATTITUDE AFFECTS RECOVERY.
Written from the cOMPOSITE ENTRY FOR THE CANCER CLAIM AS TRACED, keyed by its first-named item because the source carries several studies. NOT ONE OF THE STUDIES IN THIS ENTRY WAS READ AT SOURCE. The figures circulating from these trials reach us only through press coverage and press releases, and they are WITHHELD here rather than printed.
What our sources record
Recorded when this source was checked, figures included, with page references and quotation marks removed.
Schofield, P., and colleagues (2004). Optimism and survival in lung carcinoma patients. Cancer, 100(6), 1276-1282. doi:10.1002/cncr.20076